Reflections on Living and Broken, a Halloween Moment
by Lexarius
Summary: Harry stays in the Gryffindor Common Room while his fellow Gryffindors head to the Halloween Feast.


_**Reflections on Living and Broken,  
A Halloween Moment.**_

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_**Please Read and Review.**__ I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it)._

_This story is an alternate take on the story The Boy-Who-Lived and the Boy-Who-Broke. Originally, Shinji would disappear from Harry's life after their encounter in King's Cross Station and finally deciding on crossing over to the Afterlife. This was a possible scene, had the story not changed course to its current form._

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_**Halloween 1993  
Hogwarts**_

Harry Potter has been tense all day. Halloween had never been a good day for him. First, during his… stay… with the Dursleys, he had been forced to watch Dudley stuff his face with all kind of sweets and chocolates, most of it directly bought by Vernon, and some extorted or stolen from the other children in the neighborhood.

Of course, Dudley never wore a costume of any kind of magical creature. He wore expensive costumes of a more normal style. Firefighter (with a small firefighting truck so he could drive around), car racing pilot (with a Formula 1 car, of course), astronaut (but no alien), and similar costumes.

The most Harry had ever received in Halloween were a few wrappers, just so he could torture himself with the delicious smell of candy and chocolate he would be denied to taste for himself.

By the time he entered Magical Britain and was told about that fateful Halloween back in 1981, he had already developed a strong aversion to the holiday. Finally knowing that his parents had actually loved him, and were not the wastes of space the Dursleys had told him all his life, was no comfort for him, they had loved him enough to sacrifice themselves for him, but still, they were dead.

Halloween would always be a bitter day for him.

His two previous Halloweens at Hogwarts had done nothing to lessen that aversion. First Year, a murderous troll in the girls lavatory. In Second Yerar, the Chamber of Secrets fiasco had begun right at Halloween too. Being found at the scene of Mrs. Norris petrification and immediately accused of having done the deed was no picnic, but things went quickly downhill after that.

This year? Well… things were not the same this year. He hoped.

Harry sighed, and stood up from the couch he had claimed in the Gryffindor Common Room. Soon, it would be time for the Halloween Feast. At the moment, he was the only one there, everybody else had already gone to the Great Hall, enticed by the promise of sweets, Jack O'Lanterns, ghosts, and everything else.

He was not in the mood for company. Plain and simply, he wanted to brood for a while. Didn't he had a right to his emotions?

Harry Potter, just plain and simple Harry.

Not the Boy-Who-Lived, not the hero of those stupid books written about a hero with his name and who looked just like he did.

Not the hero or villain of Magical Britain, depending on the day of the week.

Not the parselmouth.

And certainly not the spoiled prince Snape constantly accused him of being.

No, just Harry.

And Harry wanted to mourn.

For his parents, for the life he could have had if not for that murderous bastard who had taken everything from him, and indirectly condemning him to over a decade of Hell at Privet Drive Nr 4.

This year, it had been really a change. Thanks to the broken boy whom he had met for a few hours, at a ghostly duplicate of King's Cross Station.

Thanks to Shinji's information, he had managed to keep Sirius safe, and had begun to lay the groundwork for his, no, their freedom. That was a triumph he hadn't shared with anybody. Not even Hermione, and especially, not Ron.

They were not ready. Again, especially Ron. He had tried to see the best in him, but the red-haired Weasley didn't make it any easy. He was lazy, stubborn, opinionated, had no idea of what table manners were, and yes, he was as much a bigot as Draco Malfoy, only in the opposite direction.

Harry sighed again, and walked to the window. It was already dark outside. Stars twinkled coldly in the clear night sky.

Harry studied his reflection in the glass. In the half-light of the common room, lit only by the fire in the hearth, he could see himself clearly, reflected in the window, just like he had seen himself in the Mirror of Erised, back in his First Year.

A crackling in the fire attracted his attention. He turned for a moment, confirming the screen had stopped whatever had popped out in the fire.

When he looked back at his reflection, he saw himself again, as if reflected in the Mirror of Erised.

But instead of his parents, he saw a familiar shape standing where his reflection should be.

A thin teenager. A boy with almond shaped face, dark hair and blue eyes. Still dressed with his white shirt and black pants. There was a slight smile on his mouth. Harry turned back towards the room. There was no one there.

But the reflection on the window still contained his friend.

"Shinji?"

The boy nodded.

"Are you…" Harry's voice broke. "Are you okay..?"

His smile grew a little. Shinji raised a hand, touching the glass from the other side. He pressed his palm against the cold surface. A moment later, Harry did the same.

Their hands almost touched each other.

Shinji looked back. And a woman appeared behind him. She was tall and slender, her purple hair fell down to her shoulders; she wore a red jacket over a black dress. She put a hand on each one of his shoulders, and smiled at Harry. Her smile was warm and soothing.

At Shinji's left, another feminine figure materialized. It was a beautifully exotic girl, with pale skin, short blue hair and eerie crimson eyes. She wore a blue school uniform, with a white blouse. The strange girl looked impassively at Harry, but after a moment, a tiny smile formed on her pale lips. She held Shinji's left hand in hers. She and Shinji looked quite alike in the half light. They could be related.

A third figure appeared, this time at Shinji's right. It was a tall redheaded girl, with incredibly long hair. She wore an orange sundress, and slipped her hand into Shinji's as if claiming him as hers. He didn't resist. The girl nodded brusquely at Harry. She tried vainly to contain her own smile, but when she allowed herself the gesture, her smile almost lit the room.

They stared at Harry for a long time. The girls receded gradually, disappearing from Harry's sight. First the redheaded girl, who squeezed Shinji's hand before disappearing. The blue haired girl simply released him, and with a small nod to Shinji, vanished gradually.

The purple haired woman tussled Shinji's hair, just like Harry had dreamed a mother would do. She blew a kiss to Harry before disappearing.

Only Shinji remained.

He smiled at Harry, his eyes bright with unshed tears and a smile on his lips. He tapped his chest over his heart, with the index and middle fingers of his right hand, and bowed deeply to Harry.

His lips didn't move, but Harry heard his voice inside his mind. "I'm okay, Harry. See you next year."

He vanished slowly, as if unwilling to go.

Harry kept his hand on the cold glass for a long time. For once in his life. Halloween had been good for him.

He was still there when his school mates returned from the Feast. Hermione stood next to him, respecting his silence.

The peace wouldn't last long, Harry knew. Any moment now, Ron would enter the Common Room, demanding a game of chess, or gobstones, or whatever.

Harry smiled at Hermione, appreciating her company for as long as possible.


End file.
